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Fishing in Guatemala 2009 Season Summary

Our fishing year is almost like a fiscal year, with quarters that each have a distinct personality and challenges associated with them. Our first quarter which is from July until September is a time when we assess the wear and tear on our infrastructure, and build our capital budgets for the following season. Second quarter from October until December is the work up to the full season in both a physical sense of working out any kinks in our boats, equipment or crews and in ourselves getting readjusted to 4am wake up calls every day followed by long hours for everyone.

January through March is when things really go crazy - the fish are usually stacked in and close to shore - so the fishing day is long and hard on angler and equipment alike. April until the end of June is when we tend to see most repeat clients who enjoy a little more laid back approach to their fishing, and while there is still a good buzz about the place, with plenty of fishing action - it is not as frenetic as the prior quarter. This past season followed this rough profile, but what is ordinarily a fairly predictable pace was thrown awry by changes outside of our control.

The first significant factor was the slump in equity and credit markets that either caused a lot of folks to postpone planned trips or to defer committing to them until they could realistically determine the effects on their wallet and discretionary income. It is only for the very afflicted that going to the Sailfish Capital of the World is not discretionary, it is mandatory! This lack of visibility caused us to defer some of our planned spending until later or closer to the main season - when we knew we would have to execute things in parallel to ensure smooth operations, but at least we were confident then of the numbers of anglers that would be coming to chase billfish. Guaranteed to be a bit of a panic, but we have done it before!

Sure enough, by November, the fishing was really starting to show some promise - we were catching consistent numbers of good size Blue marlin, and the Sailfish seemed to be concentrating around warm water and pods of bait fish - making for strong and consistent action, although the passage of the odd cold front did push the fish out on a few occasions. The panic came though as word spread and more anglers were asking to come down on short notice to take advantage of the great early season we had been reporting - and our boats still needed some routine maintenance that had to be sandwiched between groups and into what were supposed to be lay days. But when the fishing is hot, we have to go out fishing - it's just the way it is and the fishing stayed hot all the way through until mid December.

These pesky cold fronts - unusual to see so many of them in the calm and warm waters of Guatemala so late in the year - continued to rush through unpredictably, making the fishing unpredictable in their wake. We continued to hope for our more usual stable weather patterns as we moved into our "3rd quarter" and the New Year. By the second week of January, our hopes and expectations for a record season were bubbling just below the surface (literally!). The weather had become more stable, and we were seeing early season fishing and numbers of sailfish that we had not seen in years ! There was a week mid January when we were fishing every day and bringing back to the dock exhausted anglers - having raised 40+ fish most days, and some days way in excess of that ! Those are the kinds of numbers that we do see reasonably regularly - but typically later in the season, from end of January until mid-March could that possibly mean things could get even better?

By the time February rolled around, we were really feeling pretty good - not only had the fishing stayed great, it seemed like the mood back in the North had improved so that guys were feeling better about getting that discretionary income out and committing to trips - we had noticed a strong increase in bookings since Christmas - and this really accelerated now as news of the great bite spread far and wide. This coupled with the relatively poor reports out of Costa Rica saw a lot of new anglers coming to Guatemala for the first time chasing our reputation for quantity and quality of fishing. As we moved towards March, we reported that it may be Saint Patrick's Day - but we are pleased to report that the water in Guatemala is not green! We had been reporting how a stream of weather fronts had pushed green water close into shore, which in turn had been causing us some difficulties in finding consistent concentrations of bait and the predators that feed on them. But as we moved out of February the weather had been kind to us, and we started seeing consistent warm days and calm seas that allowed the blue water to push in and drive that nasty colder green water to one side.If you take a look at the geography of the region, it is easy to see how the currents coming down from Mexico collide with the coastline and reflect back to form huge eddies that attract and hold large quantities of bait. These fast moving currents coinciding with the moon phase mean that water conditions - in particular the location of blue water - can change dramatically in as little as 48 hrs, so even when the fishing has been tough going, as it was towards the end of February, there is always hope that tomorrow could be an angling bonanza!

March provided us with plenty of clear skies, warm days and lots of fish - without too much of a trek from the dock. Most days we were finding clean blue water at about 30 miles from home, and we could fish a line that ran pretty much straight for 15 miles - with bill fish wallowing each side of it targeting prey. The sailfish numbers had been strong all through March - but so had the marlin bite.

We had been seeing marlin consistently throughout the season from November until now - and they seemed to be becoming more numerous (or perhaps just more aggressive for smaller baits) as we progressed towards April - which many regard as the classical Blue Marlin season. As we made the turn into our "4th quarter" the late season anglers came to enjoy a great and varied fishing adventure. Although the fishing moved out to as much as 50 miles from shore for most of the month, we were blessed with some marvelous dorado fishing. They showed up in huge numbers - frequently "escorted" by hungry Blue and Black Marlin, who regarded them as such a tasty morsel that the "peanuts" would be a tantalizing appetizer - with the more mature fish being the main course and they and we found plenty of both. We saw some of the largest bull and cow dolphin we have ever seen (and caught) in Guatemala during this past April - I think the best fish we brought to the dock was well in excess of 40lbs which is a big dorado 'especially when it hasn't learned etiquette and insists on flapping around the big cockpit of the Bertram when guys are still fishing!

So all in all a season that started out with great promise - an early bite in January that gave us hope for a record season with many days in excess of 50 bill fish raised. Unfortunately Mother Nature intervened, and showed us some unusual weather by the end of January that scattered the bait fish and pushed the warm blue water back and forth making it hard for things to coalesce. April was marked by some fantastic marlin fishing - no granders reported this year, but many in the 600lb class. This coupled with some outstanding dolphin catches made the early and late parts of the season the most productive this year.

We know that things are still tough, but we do hope you will be able to come down and get away from it all next season - it's amazing what catching big fish on light tackle can do to your perspective! There is certainly more confidence around this year than the same period 12 months ago - we are booking strongly into the "peak" periods and favorite moons already, so if you have specific dates in mind, please get in touch with us as soon as you can. We look forward to welcoming you to Guatemala, the Sailfish Capital of the World (undisputed!).

The Greatsailfishing Company owns and operates its own fleet of Bertram sportfishing boats and private villas for fishing trips in Guatemala. We have just completed our 8th successful season in The Sailfish Capital of the World. For more information on this remarkable fishery - and to receive a FREE eBook with 16 information filled chapters about fishing and travelling in Guatemala click here - http://www.greatsailfishing.com/.